Daughter of the Wild
by Solus Lupa
Summary: Slight AU. Questions have had Cami Brooks reeling for years: Who was her father? Why did he leave her when she was born? And why and how can she somehow relate to the fictional character, Percy Jackson? All of a sudden, Cami is thrust into the world of monsters, gods, and creatures she deemed real only in her imagination. Leo/OC, Nico/OC, Will/OC, and Jake Mason/OC. Image not mine.
1. Chapter 1: New World, New Start

**A/N: Hope y'all like this story, because I'm planning on making it pretty long. Cami's face-claim is Brenna D'Amico.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own PJO/HoO. Last time I checked, Rick Riordan does. I only own my OC.**

 **WARNING: Do not read if you are a Caleo shipper!**

Mom always said I was different, though she never explained why. I figured it had something to do with my birth father, why she never talked about him or told me who he was. "Your father loved you very much, Cami," Mom would say. "He just had to go."

For years this angered me, why my father left for no reason, why he didn't want to stick around a little while longer to get to know me. But slowly the anger would start to fade as I focused more on school and track. And then my senses awakened when I read Percy Jackson. When he'd said in the book to put the book down if you could relate to him because he was a half-blood, I felt guilty. I did feel the same way as him. I'm a quick reader, so I finished all twelve books in one month. When I finished the last one, I felt nauseous. I began to have dreams about Half-Blood Hill from the books. Memories flooded back about my dad. Mom told me I was only a month old when he left, but I remembered being cradled in his arms and his warm smile as he gazed down at his newborn daughter. It scared me so much, I poured it all out to Mom one night. When I finished, she looked like I started growing another set of arms.

"Cami," she said in a nervous tone. That scared me even more. "These dreams, the memories of your father—it's all real."

I stared at her. What did she just say? Did she mean—  
"Are you saying I'm a half-blood?" I asked. It was more of a squeak.

Mom looked up at the ceiling. "It wasn't supposed to be this way," she muttered to herself. "You weren't supposed to find out... I need to contact Chiron."

"Contact who now?" I asked. But Mom didn't answer. She walked out of the room in silence.

I woke up to Mom shaking me. "Cami," she whispered quickly. "Wake up. It's 9:30."

I groaned. It wasn't unusual for me to sleep in. But it was unusual that Mom was treating it like an emergency. "Get dressed," she ordered. "Pack up. I have breakfast waiting for you. He should be here any minute."

"Who?" I asked. I hoped she meant my dad.  
I got dressed in under three minutes, which is a new record for me. I quickly threw on a pale yellow T-shirt and jean shorts. I packed my backpack with another shirt, shorts, sketch book, and a few personal belongings.

I walked into the kitchen and ate a quick breakfast of eggs and a bagel. Then I waited. Mom seemed really jumpy until there was a knock at the door. She took a deep breath and opened it.

I thought for sure I was hallucinating. Standing in the doorway, was a centaur. From the waist up he was a middle aged man with brown curly hair and a brown beard. And from the waist down he was a white stallion.

"Are you real?" I asked stupidly.

The centaur smiled kindly. "Yes, child. My name is Chiron. I am here to take you to camp."

"What?" I looked at Mom for support but got none. "Go with him, Cami," Mom said, looking straight right into my eyes, which wasn't hard because we're both five foot three. "This is for your own safety. I can't protect you much longer. The sooner you get to camp, the better."

I still had no idea what she was talking about, but nodded anyway. Mom pulled me into a hug and kissed my cheek. She was crying. "I love you, Cami," she whispered in my ear.

"I love you, too," I said. Mom let go and smiled. "Off you go," she said.

Chiron loaded me on his back and smiled at Mom. "Didn't worry, Camilla," he said, "we'll keep Cami safe."

Mom gave us one last smile, and closed the door. Chiron started clopping down the street towards the neighborhood entrance. "So..." I said. "Were exactly are we going?"

"Camp Half-Blood," Chiron answered.

"So I _am_ a half-blood," I said.

"Yes," Chiron replied, "though obviously you haven't been claimed by your godly parent yet."

"You look like the Chiron from my Percy Jackson books," I noted. "How are you even real? I mean, Percy Jackson is just a made up story for entertainment. There's not even evidence of Greek gods, or demigods, or monsters, or even Mist."

"You just answered your own question," Chiron said. "Mortals can't see through the Mist, so it would be impossible for them to have found evidence of the, ah, Greek goings on."

"But you're from a book," I insisted. "There's no possible way you could be real!"

"Nothing is impossible, my dear," Chiron said.

My brain was buzzing with everything he just said. I'm a half blood. Camp Half-Blood is real. Monsters are real. The Greek gods are alive. I had barely any time to ponder this, though, because as soon as we exited my neighborhood, Chiron galloped at full speed across the street. Immediately, time and space seemed to be crunching. I felt a little bit of pressure, then we emerged from our space-travel onto a dirt road. We seemed to be in upstate New York, with mountains in the background and a hill topped with a healthy pine tree in front of us. To the right of the pine tree, sat an enormous three story house. It was painted sky blue with a white roof and a rap-around porch. Chiron trotted towards it. We almost reached the porch steps when I saw a figure standing on the porch waiting for us. He looked about eighteen with unruly black hair and sea green eyes. He wore jeans and an orange T-shirt with CAMP HALF-BLOOD printed on the front in black. Before I even met him, I knew who he was.

Percy Jackson.

I couldn't decide what was more weird. The fact that I had ridden a centaur from Texas to New York in under two minutes, the fact that I was a half-blood and my dad was a god, or that the main character from my favorite book series was standing directly in front of me, smiling.

"Hey," Percy said with a friendly grin.

"Hello," I answered numbly. This was impossible.

"Ah, Percy," Chiron said, walking up the porch steps, "meet our new attendant, Cami."

"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood." Percy stuck out his hand.

"Thanks," I said, shaking his hand. Before I could stop myself, I blurted out, "How are you alive? How is this real? What's happening?!"

Chiron and Percy regarded me calmly. "Well," Percy said, "you could start with the fact that those books are all fake..."

"The author of those Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus books, Rick Riordan, is a half-blood," Chiron explained. "He is a son of Apollo. He was so fascinated with Camp Half-Blood that he wanted to write books about it to share with the mortals. The gods approved only if he twisted the events that happened and proclaimed them to be fake.  
"He did this all to protect us and bring entertainment to the mortals at the same time. It was especially daring of him to write the last five books from the Seven's diaries."

Percy scoffed indignantly.

"Anyway, this is how Olympus is still real," Chiron finished.

I must've looked very shocked, because both Chiron and Percy looked at me with amusement.

"You should probably meet Mr. D now," Percy said.

Mr. D was sitting at a small wooden table at the back of the porch reading some kind of wine magazine. He was fat with curly black hair and a curly black beard. He was wearing a leopard print Hawaiian shirt with a purple undershirt, Bermuda shorts, and red Nikes. He looked up when he heard us approaching with a bored expression. "Oh, another camper to feed and look after. Hurray."

"Mr. D, this is Camilla Brooks," Chiron said. I winced when he said my full name.

"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, have fun, blah blah blah," Mr. D responded. Percy rolled his eyes.

"Nice to meet you, too," I mumbled. Mr. D didn't notice. He was too interested in his magazine.

"Anyway, Percy, why don't you show Cami around, introduce her to Annabeth and Tyson and all your other friends," Chiron said.

"Ok," Percy agreed. "Follow me."


	2. Chapter 2: Demigods and Pegasi

Percy led me down the hill into a wide, long meadow. Dotted here and there were ancient Greek buildings and near the edge of the meadow were twenty or more cabins arranged in a Greek Omega around a green with a large fire pit. Percy pointed out the different Greek buildings explaining that one was the infirmary and another was the forge, and what not.

As we passed the sword fighting arena, I spotted a beefy teenage girl with choppy brown hair and fierce blue eyes swinging mercilessly at a dummy with her sword.

"Clarisse," I said automatically.

Percy raised his eyebrows, surprised.

I blushed. "Yeah... I'm a big fan."

Percy chuckled and led me towards the dining pavilion, which was twice the size as a normal pavilion. White picnic benches ringed the edge and a huge bronze brazer sat in the middle. At one of the picnic tables a teenage girl with blond hair and stormy gray eyes and a Cyclops with short brown dreadlocks and a light brown eye in the middle of his forehead sat together reading a book. The girl spotted us and jogged over.

"Annabeth," I remembered. Annabeth stared at me.  
"I guess Rick didn't twist you," I added.

Annabeth gave me another quizzical look, and turned to Percy.

"Hi. This is Cami. She read the books," he said.

Annabeth snorted. "Rick gave me curls, which is ridiculous."

Percy put his arm around her shoulders. "Absolutely. You look much better with straight hair."

Annabeth elbowed him in the ribs playfully. I guess Rick Riordan wasn't making up Percy and Annabeth's relationship.

The Cyclops at the picnic table realized Annabeth was missing and lumbered toward us.

"Tyson?" I said warily. The Cyclops teen looked much smarter than Rick Riordan described him.

Tyson huffed. "Rick made me sound like a big, stupid oaf, didn't he?" he said to me.

"No... I mean, not really... kinda..." I stuttered.

Tyson chuckled. "Relax, I don't bite. I was just joking."

I exhaled with relief.

Annabeth had freed herself from Percy's embrace and walked in front of me, her suspicious expression turning into a kind smile. "I take it you're a new camper? Come with me."

She turned on her heel had headed in the direction of the canoe lake. Percy, Tyson, and I jogged to catch up.

When we reached the canoe lake, a group of friendly-looking teens were skipping stones on the lake's surface, annoying a few black-haired, yellow-eyed teenage girls called naiads. There were five kids in all.

"Hey!" Annabeth called. All of them turned around, except for the naiads who snorted and dove back in their lake. The five teenagers walked over to Annabeth. "Cami," she said, "these are also some newcomers here at Camp Half-Blood. This is Jason, Piper, and Leo. Frank and Hazel are visiting from Camp Jupiter."

The one who must've been Hazel, a girl with light brown skin—fourteen I decided—smiled kindly. She had curly honey brown hair and dark gold eyes. I smiled back.

"Anyway, you guys can get better aquatinted later. A lot of you are late for your activities," Annabeth said. She turned towards the woods on the edge of the property. "Grover!" she called. A few moments later, a satyr ran towards us. He looked about in his late teens with curly brown hair and a small goatee. From the waist up his was a normal kid with an orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt. From the waist down he had furry goat legs.

"What?" he panted, "Is camp under attack again?"

Annabeth stifled a laugh. "No, Grover. We have a new camper. Her name is Cami. We need you to show her to her cabin."

"Which one?" Grover asked.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Hermes. She's undetermined."

Grover nodded. "Ok," he turned to me. "C'mon, Cami. I promise the Hermes kids are pretty nice." Grover started to lead me to the cabins, when the kid who was probably Leo piped up.

"Um, ya know, maybe I should come along too. I mean, uh..." he started to blush.

Grover rolled his eyes. "Fine. Just to make you stop talking."

We walked in awkward silence for a long time. Two pegasi soared overhead. I looked up at them with a delighted gasp. "Are those real pegasi?" I asked.

Leo grinned at me. His curly dark brown hair ruffled in the breeze that the pegasi had caused. "Yup. If you want, I could teach you how to ride one..." his face turned red again.

"That'd be awesome!" I said.

Leo kept grinning. Grover glanced at us and groaned. "Gods of Olympus, plan your date another time. We're here."

The Hermes cabin looked like a regular log cabin, nothing fancy, with a cacadus hanging above the door. Grover knocked and a boy with freckles and unkempt brown hair poked his head out. "Another camper?" he complained.

Grover rolled his eyes. "Yes, Travis, another camper."

Travis glanced at me then shrugged. "Fine."

A look of relief washed over Grover. "Perfect. Leo, you showed Cami here, like you wanted, so let's get you to the forge. Even though you're head counselor, that doesn't give you an excuse to be late."

Leo moaned dramatically and waved at me, then followed Grover away from the cabins.

Travis looked at me again. "Ok, you probably want to get settled in and all that stuff. Come with me."

The Hermes cabin was nicer on the outside. On the inside, messy kids were pillow fighting, shooting spit balls, and talking very heatedly. The noise nearly made my eardrums pop.

Travis helped me navigate the maze of shouting and fighting to a bunk in the corner.

"It's empty for now," he said. "But if your godly parent doesn't claim you by tomorrow, pray we won't have any more campers."

I nodded, understanding. The cabin was already too full, and if any other campers came, it was going to overflow.

There wasn't much "settling in" to be done. The bed was already made, and I didn't bring many belongings. As I dug threw my backpack, something landed in my lap. I looked in the direction it came, and saw Travis standing a few feet away from my bunk. I looked at the item in my lap. It was a Camp Half-Blood T-shirt.

I went into the bathroom and put the shirt on. It was exactly my size.

As I left the bathroom, reality finally took its toll on me. I was a half-blood. And this camp was now my home.

For the next hour or so, I engaged in conversation with some of the Hermes kids. Although I didn't appreciate their messy habits, we did seem to share a common interest in jokes and pranks. The majority of our conversations were spent planning these pranks.

Some time later, I absentmindedly looked at my watch. It was 11:00. I figured Leo would be done in the forge pretty soon so I decided to head to the stables. Wherever those were.

I got directions from some Aphrodite girls and headed towards the chariot racing track. Sure enough, the stable was located about a hundred yards from the track. I walked in, breathing in the scent of horses and hay. One of the horses whinnied in a nearby stall. I peered inside to see a gorgeous palomino with a pure white mane, tail, and blaze. It was a female, though I wasn't sure how I could tell. A plaque on the stall door read _Summer_. "Hey, girl," I said in a soothing voice, stroking Summer's muzzle. The young mare whinnied in bliss.

"She likes you," a familiar voice said near the stable door. I turned and saw Leo leaning against the door frame, grinning impishly, his brown eyes twinkling playfully.

I rolled my eyes as if to say, _Obviously_. "I noticed," I said instead.

Leo chuckled. "Nice shirt," he remarked, noticing my change of wardrobe. He walked over to a smoky gray stallion. His plaque said _Thunder_. Thunder nickered at Leo, who started putting on the saddle. He looked at me.

"You need help with the saddle?" he asked.

For some reason, a strong urge told me to do otherwise. "I'm just gonna ride bareback," I told him. Leo arched a brow, but said nothing.

By the time Leo was done saddling Thunder up, I had already trotted a few laps with Summer.

"Ok," Leo said as he cantered outside with Thunder, "the first thing you want to do is make sure you're securely on the pegasus's back."

"Check," I said.

"Next thing, you want to hold on tightly."

"Duh." I wrapped my arms around Summer's neck. "Check."

"Lastly, pull back on the reins—or mane," Leo smiled to himself. "Hey, that rhymes."

"Gotcha." I pulled back lightly on Summer's mane. She spread her wings, and leapt into the air. As Summer flapped upwards, the wind ripped at my face, stinging my eyes, and threatening to blow me off her back. Translation: It was awesome.

Leo came up beside me, the wind slicking back his curly hair. He was grinning like crazy, his pegasus, Thunder, in deep conversation with Summer.

"THIS IS AMAZING!" I screamed.

"I KNOW, RIGHT?" Leo yelled back, his crazy grin still plastered on his face.

Thunder and Summer took us up through the clouds, where the wind was much calmer. I laughed and sat up brushing my hand through a cloud.

"Do you do this every day?" I asked Leo. He had summoned fire and was melting the clouds as they passed. He looked up at me and extinguished the flames. His hand was drenched in water.

"Yeah, pretty much," Leo answered.

I nodded and rested my head against Summer's neck.

"Uh, Cami," Leo said.

"Yeah?"

"You probably shouldn't fall asleep on Summer."

"Why not?"

"Because you'll slip and fall to your death."

"Oh." I opened my eyes and sat up. "Thanks." I glanced over at Leo who was trying hard not to smile.  
"What?" I demanded.

We both started laughing.

"That felt good," I said once we've calmed down.

"You've never laughed before?" Leo asked. "That doesn't sound healthy."

I stifled a giggle. "No, it's just that... it's been a long time. I don't have any siblings, and my stepdad is at work all the time. So it's just me and my mom. I had friends, but they weren't real close. I barely found anything to laugh at, so I didn't much."

"You should," Leo said. "Your laugh's cute."

I felt my cheeks get hot. "Thanks."

Leo smiled.

I patted Summer's neck, who whinnied happily. Down below us, in the camp, a horn blew.

"Lunch horn," Leo said. "Let's eat!"


	3. Chapter 3: An Old Yet New Threat

**A/N MANDATORY: I would like to explain a few things real quick, to murder any future confusion: The chapters are in the first-person POVs of different characters, but I don't say how many chapters are going to be in their POVs or who's POV it is. You're just going to have to figure that out for yourself. ;) Also, this story takes place after all the PJO books, HoO, and Trials of Apollo. Like it is explained in the first chapter, Rick Riordan changed a lot of things in real life to fit the books. So Jason isn't dead, Nico and Will aren't dating *insert puking here*, and Leo and Calypso have more of a sibling relationship. They were dating, I'll tell you that, just like Rick implied them to be, but something happened and they 'broke up', per say. We'll get to that later. ;)**

The pavilion was just how I remembered it when I first arrived, except it was full of hungry campers.

I would've been excited to eat, if I wasn't eating with the Hermes cabin. The were so loud and messy, I nearly lost my appetite. Travis Stoll noticed my discomfort and sat next to me, telling me about the camp, activities, and whatnot. I snuck a glance at the Hephaestus table and saw Leo looking at me, his eyes narrowed at Travis. I decided to ignore it.

After we got our food, we scraped some into the bronze brazer. _Please_ , I prayed, scraping some of my cheese pizza into the brazer, _Dad, if you're a god, please claim me. Please show me a sign._

After lunch, Hazel ran up to me. "Hi," she said.

"Hi," I responded.

"Undetermined, huh?" Hazel said. She wrinkled her nose at the Hermes campers. "I feel sorry for you."

I smiled. "Yeah, hopefully my godly parent will claim me before tomorrow. I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight in the Hermes cabin."

Hazel giggled. "Totally. Well, I've got to get to pegasus riding class. Catch ya later." She sprinted across the lawn.

I stood there, staring across the field, when I felt like I was being watched. I turned around but everyone had gone to their activities. I was alone.

Then the sky rumbled overhead. Rolling towards me, was the blackest storm cloud I've ever seen. That was impossible. The camp's magic protected it from storms. But the storm kept rolling towards me. Then something happened I didn't expect. The cloud spoke. It was a dark rumbling sound, like thunder cracking. _Soon_ , it said, _very_ _soon_. _I_ _will_ _awake_ _and_ _I_ _will_ _make_ _Gaea_ _pay_ _for_ _what_ _she_ _did_. _And_ _you,_ _daughter_ _of_ _the_ _Wild_ , _shall_ _be_ _my_ _pawn_.

The voice was distant, like it was speaking from very far away. I shivered. Then suddenly, the storm was gone, and I was left with nothing but goosebumps. I wondered who the voice belonged to, or what it meant. I stared to feel light-headed.

"Cami!" Leo yelled, suddenly there. I didn't how he came so fast. He caught me before I fell forward.

"I need to talk to Chiron," I said weakly.

"Why?" he asked. The way my face contorted in pain probably made him forget it.

"Ok, sure," he said gently. I weakly wrapped one arm around his shoulders and he wrapped his arm around my waist and helped me walk to the Big House. I hoped Chiron had an explanation.

We stumbled through the door of the Big House. Mr. D was sitting in a recliner by the fire place, reading his wine magazine, absently tossing Seymour the stuffed leopard head Snausages. Seymour purred when he saw me, though I'm not exactly sure why.

We found Chiron in his office, finishing up an Iris-message with a satyr in Michigan.

"Chiron," Leo said urgently.

Chiron turned around and looked properly concerned with my pale face, half-closed eyes and moaning.

"I'm ok," I said to Leo, gesturing him to let me go.

"No, you're not," he said matter-of-factly. He tightened his grip around my waist (which was really threatening to cut off my air supply) like I might faint again at any minute. Even though he tried to look serious, and grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. I rolled my eyes but resisted the urge to smile as well.

"What happened?" Chiron demanded.

I explained what happened outside the dining pavilion. The voice made my arm hairs stand on end like an electric shock.

Chiron looked pale and twenty years older. He stood still for a moment. "No," he muttered.

"No what?" Leo asked.

"Ouranos," Chiron answered like that explained everything.

Leo snorted like he was trying not to laugh. "Excuse me?"

Chiron's ears turned red. "Not that kind of...! Oh, never mind. You know well of what I mean."

I didn't. I wasn't sure why Chiron was so afraid of a planet. Then realization hit me in the head like a rock. Ouranos.

"The original God of the Sky," I remembered. "Gaea's first husband."

"That's right," Chiron said. "It sounds as if he's awakening from the depths of Tarturus."

"Wait!" Leo said. "Kronos chopped him up into tiny pieces!"

"The same thing happened to Kronos," I pointed out, "and he still lived and could still be alive. Gods can't die. They're immortal. Ouranos must've reawakened when Gaea started to wake and you guys defeated the giants and lulled her back to sleep."

"Cami's right," Chiron murmured more to himself, "we must stop him from releasing his wrath on Gaea."

"Wouldn't that be good?" Leo asked.

"Gaea would fully wake," Chiron pointed out, "and humankind would be destroyed because of her vengeance on her husband. And Ouranos would must likely also seek revenge on the gods for taking over his domain. If he is not stopped, the world as we know it will be destroyed."

"That. . . is terrifying." Leo said.

"Wait, Ouranos called me something," I recalled, "he called me 'daughter of the Wild'."

"Maybe he meant Demeter?" Leo shrugged.

Chiron seemed to have a suspicion, but he didn't want to share it.  
"I know what we have to do," he said. He turned to me and Leo and smiled. "We'll discuss this at the bonfire. Now go enjoy the rest of your afternoon."


	4. Chapter 4: Earthborn and Jungle Huts

As we walked down from the Big House, I told Leo I was ok to walk by myself. He nodded but insisted that he keep an arm around my shoulders just in case.

We reached the dining pavilion and looked across the meadow. It reminded me of when Ouranos spoke to me, saying I'd be his pawn. That didn't settle well. I felt queasy, and Leo hugged me so close like I might fall through the earth at any minute.

"Leo?" said a voice.

We turned our heads and saw Jason and Piper walking across the field, holding hands. They walked up to us.

"Why do you have your arm around Cami?" Piper asked, an eyebrow raised.

Leo blushed. "Um, she nearly fainted and fell, so I caught her and she nearly fell again."

I wriggled a little further out of his grasp. Leo relaxed his grip on my shoulders, and I flooded with relief.

"Uh, thanks," I said.

"Leo," Jason said, "you're late for your activities."

"Oh, yeah!" Leo smacked his forehead. He said glanced at me with a half-grin. "Later." and he took off across the field. Piper and I exchanged an exasperated eye roll. Boys.

"Nice meeting you, Cami," Jason smiled.

"See you later," Piper added. The two of them walked off in the direction of the beach.

I decided to explore. I wanted to check out the canoe lake and maybe meet the naiads, as well as the dryads.

When I arrived at the lake, the naiads simply smiled and waved as if they had better things to do. So I decided to visit the woods.

The dryads were in the middle of a game of tag with the satyrs, who paused when they saw me. Their faces turned pale and they began to whisper: "Can you smell that?" "It's his presence." "Does she know?"

"What?" I asked. The dryads shrugged, though it looked forced as if they knew something they didn't want to share. It was too creepy for me. I sprinted out of there and stopped at the base of a massive oak tree. I decided to climb it. It felt surprisingly easy, like I was a monkey or something. I got to a wide enough branch to sit on. My eyes felt droopy. I hadn't sleep since this morning and Ouranos's weird communication drained all my energy. I closed my eyes.

When I opened them, everything was on fire.

...

I was standing at the base of a mountain. The air was cold, and dense pine trees crowded the area. Thunder rumbled overhead and the ground cracked and several Earthborn emerged. The sky rumbled again, and storm spirits swirled through the air.  
Then I realized where I was. I looked up at the mountain again. It was snow-capped, and thousands of feet tall. Mount Everest.

The battle between Earth and Sky continued, when laughter rolled through the sky. The sound was like a volcano erupting. _You have become weak!_ the voice yelled in triumph. Several more storm spirits pelted the Earthborn. Another voice spoke, but it came from the ground: _You will never conquer the gods! I will rule this earth!_

I realized I was watching a possible future battle between Ouranos and Gaea. I looked around and saw that Earth had already been destroyed.

Debris was everywhere. Houses were flipped upside down, cars were smooshed like pancakes. Streep lamps, store signs, cabinets, TVs, all kinds of stuff littered the ground. Including the bodies.

Fresh corpses dotted the ground, some with horrible, gruesome gashes and cuts, others covered with mud or nasty burn marks.

The fighting continued, more monsters came forth. Then Ouranos laughed again, but this time he said my name. _Cami._

...

I woke up to Hazel shaking me vigorously, so hard I almost fell off my tree branch.

"What?" I gasped.

Hazel gave me a worried looked. "You're sweating. A lot."

I looked down and sure enough, I was. "Oh."

"C'mon." Hazel tugged my arm. "We'll be late for dinner. Hey, how'd you get up that tree so easily?"

Dinner was a good distraction from my nightmare. Campers were laughing and talking with one another, and of course, I ate at the Hermes table. The kids had calmed down a little so I was able to chat some more with a few.

When we scraped our food into the bronze brazer I one again prayed that my dad would claim me.

After dinner, we gathered around the camp fire for the singalong led by the Apollo and Muse campers. It was still kind of light out, but it was nice to have the warmth of the bonfire. Everyone seemed cheerful, so the flames glowed yellow-orange.

We were allowed to sit wherever we wanted, so I walked over to Percy and his friends and sat down in between Hazel and Leo. Hazel smiled at me and Leo kept his eyes on the bonfire but he glanced at me and grinned. He might've accidentally made his shoulder touch mine.

After the singalong was over, Chiron came forth and the bonfire started to glow eerie purple. I guess when Chiron made an announcement, they weren't always good. A perky redhead stood next to him with a slightly anxious expression. I realized she was Rachel Dare, the camp's Oracle.

Chiron stomped his hoof on the pavement surrounding the fire pit. Everyone was quiet. Chiron cleared his throat. "As you all know, last year seven demigods defeated Gaea and her giants," he began. "But there has been a discovery. The ancient sky god Ouranos is awaking."

There were many collected gasps, buzzes of nervous whispers, and a couple snorts of amusement.

"Therefore, we must issue a quest," Chiron continued, "We have reports of ancient stirrings and earthquakes in Alaska. Like Olympus, Ouranos's buried body pieces have moved to the States as well. They are currently buried in an area of Tartarus that is underneath Mt. McKinley. Ouranos is trying to awake by being close to the sky, and the closest he can get here in America is on top of Mt. McKinley. He will then transition into the sky and wreak havoc on our world. He will eventually make it to Mt. Everest, the tallest mountain in the world, and take revenge on Gaea and all the gods."

Chiron let that happy news sink in. Before anyone could recover from their shock, Rachel pulled up a three-legged stool and sat on it. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then opened them. They were glowing green. Her mouth opened to speak and green smoke spilled forth:

" _Child of wilderness, strong and proud_

 _Will be set apart from the crowd_

 _One choice shall be the fall or mark the rise_

 _As Ouranos awaits his deadly prize."_

Rachel then slumped back in her seat. Several Apollo campers picked her up on a stretcher and carried her off. Everyone was stunned.

"There you go," Leo said to me, "that's a prophecy."

"Who's the 'child of wilderness'?" one camper questioned.

"Me!" several Demeter campers and satyrs said at once, jumping up and raising their hands.

"No," Chiron said. "Someone else." He looked at me. All of the campers followed his gaze until all eyes were resting on me. Heat rose to my face. Oh great.

"Uh," I said, " I think you've made a mistake."

I was wrong. Just then, a bald eagle swooped down from the clouds. It looked weathered and tried, as if it had been flying a long way. Clutched tightly in its talons was a piece of forest-green fabric.

The eagle dropped the fabric in my lap. It circled around the bonfire once, then landed on my shoulder, which surprised me. I unfolded the piece of fabric. In the center was a white faded outline of a tiger's face. I turned the fabric over and stitched into it, was a message. It said: _Cami, I know this is hard. I wish I could've been there to see you grow up. But gods have responsibilities. This message is my claim. The eagle was to give it to you when the time was right, and if you're reading this, it must be one of those times. I am Pan, God of the Wild. It may be a while until you can control your powers fully, but you'll learn. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. But I love you with all my heart._

My eyes felt moist. I finally knew who my dad was. I decided to read the message aloud. Chiron didn't look surprised. He must've figured all along who I was. "All hail, Camilla Brooks, daughter of Pan," he said, and knelt. The other campers followed his example.

"What happened to him?" I demanded after they stood back up.

The other campers looked at the ground silently.

"Cami," Chiron said sympathetically, "Pan died."

I should've known. In Percy Jackson: Battle of the Labyrinth, Pan faded. Everyone forgot who he was, even that he existed. So in a way, he died. Rick Riordan must not've twisted that little sweetheart up either.

I thought about this as Grover led me (finally) to my cabin.

"So..." I said as we approached the cabins, "what kind of powers do I have as a daughter of Pan?"

Grover looked at me as though I just told him the sky is red. "You are the queen of the satyrs! The daughter of our long-lost and now dead lord! You have dominion over us. You command us. And we will happily serve you!" Grover was acting like he just had a sugar rush. He was grinning like a madman.

"Yeah but. . . anything else? Like being able to summon giant wild boars and being able to understand singing Dodo birds. . .?" I prodded.

Grover gave me that did-you-just-tell-me-the-sky-is-red look again. "OF COURSE. You can communicate with any animal, get along in perfect harmony with any animal, summon any animal from the past or present, and basically do anything that relates to animals. Ooh, then there's nature! Pan was also the God of Wild Places, you know. You can control nature! Not like the Demeter kids who can create plants out of thin air, but if you are in an area with sustainable soil, you can make any sort of any vegetation grow from the ground. You can also manipulate and control nature as well as create it. You have a certain dominion over dryads and nature spirits as well. Also, you can detect where Wild places are, how much Wild is left in a Wild place, how wild a Wild place is, how much nature is in the Wild place, and what sort of creatures are in the Wild place!" Grover was nearly exploding with excitement. I felt a little dizzy as my head swam with all of this information.

We arrived at the cabin. It was built with jungle trees and smooth cement so it looked like a modern African hut. The roof was made with glass in a triangular model like an average house roof. Moss and vines grew on the walls and sweet-smelling jasmine and bougainvillea weaved in and out.

Grover clopped up the steps of the wrap-around porch and opened the door. "After you."

The inside was even more stunning. It was definitely bigger then the outside let on, half the size of a house. I was guessing the inside was enchanted. The walls were slick silvery gray stone that had an occasional patch of moss or fruit plant growing on them. The floor was trimmed California grass. Grover encouraged me to take off my shoes, so I did. The grass was as soft and dry as a velvet carpet.

On the two walls opposite the door, six trees grew, three trees for each wall. On each tree, a bed was suspended halfway up accessible by a wooden ladder nailed into the trunk. The trees grew up through holes in the ceiling. They were oaks, but their trunks were as thick as banyans.

Speaking of ceiling, about four and a half feet below it, (the cabin was about twenty feet tall) an intricate design of ramps and catwalks lined the walls, like a kitty playground. And that was just one of the habitats. In the left corner of the far wall was a mini bamboo forest where a giant panda munched casually. In the opposite corner a tiny waterfall trickled from a hole in the wall flowing into a small-ish pond dotted with lily pads. An alligator's snout and eyes poked out of the water. Scattered across the floor were a few holes where prairie dogs, badgers, and various other hole-dwellers popped their heads out. Birds built nests in some of the tree branches. A leopard lounged on one of the catwalks, his tail twitching lazily. I even saw a Dodo bird and a Tasmanian tiger.

But the strangest part was that I could hear their thoughts. And they all spoke one thing:

 _Hail, Daughter of the Wild._


	5. Chapter 5: Ouranos's Bargain

**A/N: I don't know this for sure, but in this story, one of Pan's sacred animals is a tiger. I tried looking it up, but found nothing, but if you know or have a better idea, feel free to drop a review and let me know so I can fix it. :)**

I thought I was in a dream. The cabin was an animal paradise. Grover told me that the animals went to the bathroom by exiting out of a hidden door in the back wall, and the animals were vegetarian, so they ate the fruit that grew on the walls. It was pretty impressive.

As I was getting used to my new home, there was a knock at the cabin door. I opened it and saw Leo standing in the doorway. He was holding my backpack. "You left this in the Hermes cabin," he said.

I took the bag from him. "Thanks," I said. I looked at him apologetically. "I would invite you in, but campers from different cabins aren't allowed to be alone in the same cabin."

"Oh, yeah, no problem," Leo said. He quirked an eyebrow at me. "You seriously brought eyeliner and mascara to camp?"  
I glared at him. "Is that a crime?"

He chuckled. "Uh, no. I'll see you tomorrow," he said. Then he trotted down the steps and walked off into the darkness.

"Boys," I said to myself, throwing the backpack on top of my bunk.

 _I agree,_ said a voice in my head. I assumed it was one of the animals. The voice was silky and young. I spun around and saw a beautiful white tiger laying on the bunk across from me. Her eyes reminded me of mine: As blue and clear as the sky.

 _Y_ es, _my lady,_ the voice said again. The white tiger stared at me. I realized she was the one talking. _It is me. My name is Arya_.

"Uh, hi," I said. I was still getting used to the fact that I could talk to any animal telepathically (boy, me and Percy were going to have some serious competition for the horse's minds). I looked at Arya. "Are you my spirit animal?" I asked.

 _Sacred animal,_ Arya corrected, _I am one of Pan's sacred animals. Quite frankly, all tigers are._

"Oh." I blinked a few times. Anymore of this telepathy and my brain would explode.

"Goodnight, Arya," I told the she-tiger as I climbed into bed.

 _Goodnight, Daughter of the Wild,_ Arya said.

"Don't call me that," I murmured sleepily.

Arya chuckled gently. _As you say, Cami._

...

The first I saw when I opened my eyes the next morning, was a sloth. I could tell instantly it was a male (don't ask me how).

 _Good morning!_ the sloth said slowly but cheerfully in my head.

"Good morning," I replied unsurely.

 _I'm Lance!_ the sloth said. For a slow animal, Lance's voice was very energetic.

"Cami," I responded. The mind-communication still unnerved me.

 _Daughter of the Wild!_ Lance shrieked.

"Don't call me that!" I yelled back.

 _Daughter of the Wild!_ Lance screamed in a singsong voice that nearly shattered my brain.

"Arrggghh!" I cried frustratedly. Lance laughed in my head. I was just about to lean over the side of the bunk and strangle him when somebody knocked on the door. Annabeth poked her head in a second later with her eyes closed.

"Decent," I assured her. She opened her eyes and grinned at me. "Hi. Who were you yelling at?"

"Lance," I replied, like that explained everything. I shot a glare at the sloth. He gave me an annoyingly smug smile.

Annabeth shrugged. "Ok. We're waiting for you by Thalia's tree. Maybe change your clothes. You probably won't wear fresh ones for a while."

Before I could ask what in the name of Zeus she was talking about, she threw a sheathed serrated-edged dragon tooth dagger up on my bunk and sprinted out the door.

I took my extra T-shirt and extra pair of shorts into the bathroom and changed as fast as I could. I decided to braid some feathers into my hair which went well with my forest-green T-shirt. Then I hurried out of the cabin with my backpack packed with the Camp Half-Blood shirt and shorts I wore the day before, a thick gray hoodie, and the dragon tooth dagger.

When I arrived on the hill with Thalia's pine tree, eight teenagers were waiting for me. I recognized the first five: Annabeth, Tyson, Hazel, Leo, and Grover. I had a pretty good idea of who the other three were.

One was a girl with a perky elvish face framed with curly blond hair. She had green eyes which complemented her pine-green Greek dress. Juniper, I guessed, Grover's girlfriend, a dryad.

The other two weren't so hard. Will Solace, a son of Apollo. He had curly blond hair and friendly blue eyes and looked like he would rather be doing archery that go on a quest.

Then Nico di Angelo, a son of Hades. He looked healthier than he was described in the book. His olive skin wasn't as pale, and his brown eyes looked full of life (catch the irony?) His black hair was cut back choppy and uneven, like Hazel had done it herself with a pair of safety scissors.

"Um," I said. I was utterly shocked to see that so many people volunteered for the quest. Especially Nico. I was pretty sure that guy had had enough of ancient bloodthirsty gods trying to rise to power.

"Hey, you need all the help you can get," Will said. He didn't exactly say it in the nicest tone.

"Gee, thanks," I retorted. Will had averted his narrowed eyes from me to something by my side, his eyes growing wide with horror. I watched as everyone else's eyes did the same, even Leo's. I followed their gaze, and standing close next to my left leg, was Arya. The sunlight shone off her fur making it look like liquid silver. Her lips curled back slightly as a warning, but otherwise she was calm.

"Arya, shush," I hissed, my voice barely audible. But Arya's ears were ten times stronger than a human's. She heard perfectly. _Fine,_ she agreed stubbornly. She backed up and sat on her hunches, developing a sudden interest in cleaning her front paw. I winced at the others.

"Sorry," I said. "This is Arya. I met her last night."

"Besties with a tiger," Will muttered, "that's safe."

I glared at him. As if sensing my mood, the grass at my feet grew taller and formed thorns. I looked down, Will and I equally terrified. The grass retreated, returning back to normal grass.

Annabeth cleared her throat. "Before you two kill each other, we should get moving."

"Festus?" I asked hopefully.

Leo shook his head. "Sorry," he said. "If Ouranos plans on mind-controlling you, nonetheless kill the rest of us, sky travel is not exactly the wisest route."

I nodded, kind of embarrassed. I should've thought of that.

"It's ok!" Juniper said brightly. "We can just walk. Great exercise! Plus, Grover and I can train Cami to use her and powers!"

Yippee.

Everyone agreed to travel on foot, but also agreed that Agrus should drive us at least out of New York.

We piled in the camp van, which fortunately had enough room for all of us, plus room to spare. Agrus glanced back at me with his hundred eyes and grinned. It was probably a long time since he helped a demigod on their quest.

I coincidentally found myself in between Hazel and Leo again. I really wished I was sitting by a window. It gave me comfort to look out at the landscape. Another "daughter of Pan" thing, I guess.

Hazel nudged my arm, as if reading my thoughts. She nodded to her window. Pines and oaks rolled by. I could feel the life coursing through them like a beating heart. _Thanks_ , I mouthed to Hazel. She smiled and rested her head against the windowsill, closing her eyes. In a moment, she was snoring. Leo chuckled next to me. I closed my eyes and sleep took over me.

Which led to another nightmare.

...

I was standing on top of a mountain. Icy wind ripped at my face. Tall pines and rugged terrain stretched for miles.

Alaska.

A low rumbling in the mountain nearly knocked me off my feet. Ouranos's voice spoke, which almost gave me frost bite. The sky grew darker.

 _Ah, Daughter of the Wild. You have embarked on a quest that will lead your friends to their deaths. You will fail, and I will rise on April first nevertheless. If anything, your silly quest will simply delay me, and I hate delays. Turn back now, and I might let you live once I wake. Continue, and you all will be doomed. Which will you choose? I am growing restless. You don't have forever._

Ouranos's voice died away like the freezing wind. I was left alone on the mountain top with two impossible choices.


	6. Chapter 6: Hurt and Comfort

"Cami."

I awoke to Leo gently shaking my shoulder. For a moment, I had a terrifying image of Lance the sloth looking down at me, a smug look on his face. I brushed the thought aside.

"Cami," Leo said again.

"Yes?" I asked a little groggily.

"You ok?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You talk in your sleep."

I took me a moment to process what he meant. Then my nightmare flooded back. "What did I say?" I ask slowly.

Leo shrugged casually. "Just a lot of mumbling. 'No!' 'Daughter of the Wild' 'April first' that kind of thing."

Perfect.

"Um, yeah," I admitted. "April first; I'm pretty sure that's when Ouranos fully wakes."

"April Fools Day?" Grover asked, truly perplexed.

"Well. . . I think it's because April is when we get a lot of storms. Ouranos is the original sky god. His power is probably strongest during that month," I replied.

Annabeth nodded thoughtfully. "That's true."

"Uh, guys, hate to interrupt, but we're almost out of New York," Tyson said from the passenger seat. "At least three more hours."

I sighed. Hazel started humming a song I didn't recognize, probably from the 1940s, the era she first lived in. Leo began to doze off. I stared at the landscape, feeling it slowly lull me into a calming trance. I must've fallen asleep again, because the next thing I knew Leo was shaking my shoulder, again. It was noon and we had stopped on the side of a country road.

"We're here."

Argus had dropped us off in mid-state Canada. The terrain was covered in a thin layer of snow. The land was unoccupied. A couple of trees dotted the landscape, and there were huge mountains in the distance. A mile away, a dense forest grew.

"I'm guessing that's the direction we're going?" I asked no one in particular.

"Yep," came several answers.

We waved goodbye to Argus, who sent us off with some nectar and ambrosia. Our journey began.

We trudged through the plain and into the forest for a while. It seemed as though we had been hiking forever, but it was really only a few hours. As the sun began to set, we walked a little father then decided to set up camp for the night. Tyson collected the kindling for the fire, and Leo used his flame abilities to start it. Annabeth had wisely brought some of the magical plates and cups from Camp Half-Blood. She assured us that the plates were self-cleaning, so we didn't need to lug around a garbage bag full of dirty dishes. They were also paper, so they were light to carry and nonbreakable.

The forest was thick, but it was still cold. I pulled up the hood on my hoodie and cursed myself for not remembering that it still snowed in late February. The vegetation sensed this, and the grass under the snow poked out of the ground around my feet and surrounded them, warming them up. Arya had followed us and curled up next to me, resting her head on my lap and closed her eyes. She began snoring. I earned some amused glances from the rest of the crew.

Annabeth walked around the ring we had assembled in and passed out plates and cups. Leo was already scarfing down a cheeseburger, while Grover was munching on a vegetable enchilada. My plate had magically whipped up my mom's homemade lasagna and my cup filled with root beer. A cluster of grapes appeared as well, so I gave them to Arya, who devoured them in one bite.

"So," Annabeth said as she played with her black beans and rice, "Ouranos's rise to power is set for April first. That gives us a month and a half to demolish him at Mt. McKinley, and seal off Mt. Everest."

"Chiron mentioned Mt. Everest," I remembered, "why is it so important?"

"It is the tallest mountain in the world, closest to the sky. If Ouranos escapes Mt. McKinley and makes it to Mt. Everest. . . things aren't going to be pretty."

"He's more powerful there," Hazel mused.

"Exactly," Annabeth said. I shuddered. The quest had suddenly taken on a new urgency. There was a slight tension in the air as everyone mulled over this.

"Then we go to Mt. McKinley," Nico said, "and hope some of the gods will be on our side."

We all looked up at the sky, as if Zeus would magically write with lightning, _Here I am! Ready and standing by!_

Unfortunately, nothing happened. Juniper let out a disappointed sigh.

"Apparently not," Nico said frustratedly.

"Whatever. Seriously, we can do this! We just need to work as a team," I said, hoping to lift everyones' spirits."

Annabeth nodded. Tyson yawned loudly. Will followed.

"We should all get some sleep," Annabeth suggested. "We have a long journey tomorrow."

We all agreed. Everyone fell asleep almost immediately. Some slept on the ground on bed rolls, while others slept on logs. Leo stayed awake and kept the fire going a little. I found a log to sleep on and scooted to the end where I could lay down. I unconsciously made a patch of moss grow where I was going to put my head. I rested my head on it. It was fluffy and dry, like an earthen pillow. I wondered how much more I could do when Grover and Juniper trained me. I would be able to do a lot more than make moss pillows.

As I lay on the log, I felt less and less tired. I stared up into the sky, which was dark indigo, with a white stripe of stars which I guessed was the Milky Way. I heard the fire crack as Leo tossed another flame into the wood. I sat up and scooted next to him. A cold wind swept through. I shivered. Leo made the fire grow larger so that the cold was barely a nip.

"Thanks," I murmured.

Leo nodded. "Sure."

I brushed my hand through the snow, which made my skin tingle. Tiny flowers popped up in between my fingers. I thought again of Pan and how much he could've shown me if he was alive. I felt a smolder of rage and jealousy that all of the other gods not not only saw their children at least once but they were also alive. It seemed as though Pan was the only god who had faded. I was hoping that by coming to Camp Half-Blood, I would finally find out who my dad is. Turns out, I did find out, but the truth much more painful than I would've liked. Pan was gone.

I only then realized I was crying. I had my head in my hands, sobbing like a child.

Leo looked at me, stunned, like he never thought it possible that I could cry. "Why are you crying?" he asked a little unsurely and as gently as possible.

"Well, I just found out yesterday that I was a half-blood," I answered miserably, "and then found out my godly parent is dead! And on top of that, I am now embarking on a dangerous and most likely death ending quest to stop a bloodthirsty, power-crazed, ancient god who wants to wake up and kill all the Olympians, probably kill Gaea, who will destroy the Earth if she wakes! Yep, I'm fine." I buried my head in my arms. The flowers I grew started to wilt with my mood.

Leo looked at me blankly, like he didn't know how to process what I'd just said. Then he held out his arm (a little awkwardly). I slid closer and leaned into him, resting my head on his shoulder. He rubbed my back.

"Hey," he said softly, "we're all in this together. We're a team! We're gonna stop Ouranos from waking."

"Thanks, Leo," I said, looking up at him. For a split second, I heard his breath catch in his throat.

The stars shone overhead like sprinklings of glitter. The fire started to die down. Leo rearranged himself so he could blast another flame into the fire, but he did it slowly. His eyes looked heavy. I lifted my head up and patted his shoulder.

"You should get some sleep," I said.

Leo stretched and yawned. "You, too."

I nodded. I scooted back to the end of the log and laid my head on my moss pillow. It was going to be a long night.


	7. Chapter 7: The Quest Begins

**A/N: To Matt: No, sorry to disappoint, but in this story, Nico and Will are straight. Everything that has to do with that will be explained in future chapters.**

Sunlight flitted through the branches of the forest canopy. I sat up and stretched. No one else was awake as far as I could see, besides me and Nico, who had already started the fire and was stoking it. I walked over and sat next to the fire across from him.

"Is anyone else awake?" I asked.

Nico nodded. "Yeah. Grover. He went looking for berries."

I tilted my head, perplexed. "But we already have the magic plates. Why would he want berries?"

Nico shrugged. "You can never tell with satyrs." He returned to stoking the fire, his face solemn. I wondered why he was always reclusive and quiet all the time. I was about to ask him, but decided it wasn't a good idea. I didn't want to get on the bad side of a son of Hades.

I looked at Nico again, only to discover that he was looking next to me with a surprised expression. I looked over and saw Arya laying contentedly, like nothing had happened.

"She's friendly," I assured Nico.

He lowered his eyes back to the fire and muttered under his breath, "Just like Mrs. O'Leary. Freaky teleporting cat."

Arya growled deep in her throat. _Let's see how your face looks after you call me 'cat' one more time._

"Arya," I warned.

Arya huffed and rested her chin on her paws. I smiled in spite of myself and scratched her behind the ears. Arya closed her eyes and purred blissfully. _Down, down, over—yeah, that's the spot._

I giggled and continued to pet my tiger. I could've sworn I saw a shadow of a smile pass Nico's face.

A crunch of branches came from the trees, and a moment later Grover came stumbling through, his arms full of blackberries.

"Blackberries. Seriously, dude, we have magic food-creating plates," I told him. I immediately regretted it. Grover's eyes were red from crying.

"Grover, I'm sorry. What's wrong?" I asked gently.

Grover sniffed. "Juniper's very sick. If she stays out of the state with her home tree for more than twelve hours. . ." Grover trailed off, but we all knew what would happen.

"Wait. . . Juniper's tree. . . I thought she couldn't leave the camp because of her tree..." I stopped when Nico raised an eyebrow at me. "Oh," my face suddenly felt hot, "Rick Riordan twisted that up too, huh?"

Grover nodded. "Yep. But Juni still can't go very far without getting sick. As for the blackberries, they're her comfort food."

Grover walked over to Juniper, who was still sleeping, but her face was greener than usual. Her eyes barley opened as Grover knelt down next to her log. "Hey, Juniper, how you feeling?" he asked tenderly.

Juniper managed a weak smile. "Better, now that you came."

Nico grimaced like he ate something sour. Despite the crucial situation, I almost laughed.

"Brought your favorite," Grover continued. He helped Juniper sit up and handed her some blackberries. Juniper took the fruit and ate it tentatively. The color started coming back to her face. She took a deep breath and exhaled.

"I'm fine," she lied.

"Juni," Grover said sadly, "you can't continue on the quest. You won't make it. We need to get you back to camp. . ." he trailed off and looked at Nico.

Nico's face flushed. "Oh, um, well. . . is it really a good idea to shadow-travel with a sick nymph?"

Grover gave Nico the death look, which effectively shut him up. "Anyway, Nico, you guys better get going. I don't think Juniper can hold out much longer," Grover said.

Nico nodded and offered a hand to Juniper, who took it and stood up. "Don't worry, Grover, I'll be fine," Juniper assured him. She kissed him on the cheek, and walked with Nico to the nearest tree. Juniper grabbed Nico's arm as he walked straight into the tree and disappeared.

I patted Grover's shoulder. "She'll be ok," I told him. Grover looked at me gratefully. Arya grunted in her sleep.

"Argh," came a groggy voice. Grover and I turned around to see Leo stretching so far back he nearly fell off the log. He yawned. "'Sup."

"Hey, Leo," I said. He flashed me a grin and grabbed a plate from Annabeth's backpack, which immediately produced an exaggerated amount of blueberry pancakes and bacon. Leo wolfed them down in under five minutes. Grover stared at him with a genuine horrified expression. Leo and I both laughed.

Hazel made a muffled snort from her bedroll and Annabeth rolled over in hers. She opened her eyes and looked like she didn't know where she was for a second. Then her face grew red with anger and cried, "You guys!"

Tyson jumped out of bed, his brown eye looking frantically around; Hazel sat up, her hair like a rat's nest and little diamonds popping up around her legs; and Will, who was aiming his bow with his eyes half-closed. How ironic that his bow happened to be pointing at my head.

"What?" Grover asked Annabeth.

She glared at him. "Why didn't you wake us up? We could be halfway to Alaska by now!"

"Sorry," I muttered.

"Over reactive," Leo coughed.

Annabeth looked at him. "Excuse me?"

"Nothing," he yelped.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Pack up! We still have a long journey ahead of us. A couple hundred miles at least."

"No way!" Leo said sarcastically. "A couple hundred miles is far? Really?"

Annabeth ignored him. She gave Grover a quizzical look. "Where's Nico and Juniper?"

"Camp Half-Blood," Grover answered. Annabeth seemed to understand. "Juniper will be ok," she reassured him. Grover gave her a look that said, _I hope so._

"Nico will catch up to us as soon as he drops off Juniper. I'll send him an Iris-message later. And as for us. . ." Annabeth said, "let's go."


	8. Chapter 8: An Unexpected Detour

**A/N: To Dramione2.0: Thanks so much for checking that out. I'll definately keep that in the back of my mind. Now, I was thinking, and since satyrs are under Dionysus, and Pan is the Greek god of satyrs, it may be possible that the tiger is the sacred animal for both, though, like how a lot of the gods/goddesses have multiple sacred animals.**

 **So, you can obviously tell who's POV it is in this chapter. VictoriaZ-Grace will be writing all the chapters about Nico and the pale girl (her name is a surprise for now). All credit goes to VictoriaZ-Grace for the pale girl, who is her OC. I recommend checking out Vicki's NCIS story; it's pretty awesome.**

I stumbled out of the shadow, unstable with the added weight of an unconscious Juniper, into none other than Clarisse La Rue who was, unbelievably, having a seemingly calm conversation with Percy.

 _What are the odds of that?_ I mused.

"What in Hades are you doing here Death Boy?" Clarisse roared, nearly jumping out of her skin. _There goes the once in a lifetime sight of a calm Clarisse. Oh well,_ I thought before replying, "Juniper went too far away from her tree. She needs an Apollo healer."

Percy stepped over and lifted the nymph off of me bridal style, saying, "I'll bring her to the infirmary. Nico, take a nap."

"Whatever, doc," I shot back sarcastically, but really, I knew that I needed the rest.

Strolling to the Hades cabin I again wondered what the designers were thinking. Yes, it's true that we aren't morning kids and like staying in the shadows, but we aren't vampires. I soundlessly slipped inside. Walking over to one of the coffin-themed beds, I collapsed on top of the blood-red sheets, asleep before I could get under the covers. Dreams greeted me in the realm of Hypnos. Fortunately, they weren't that bad.

...

I was running, faster than I thought possible for my small body, before I realized that, one: I was in a dream, not real life. And two: I wasn't me. I was a young, female, dark gray wolf, running with a pack, each wolf had fur in various shades of gray, black and white.

 _Gods, this is weird,_ I thought.

We kept running, hunting I guessed, over white blanketed mountains. I looked for the leader of the pack and spotted it, and an unexpected surprise.

Riding on the very large, almost white—gray alpha wolf, was a girl. A beautiful girl with black waist length hair pulled back in a French braid wearing a fur-lined gray hoodie with blue jeans and hiking boots. _Wow,_ I thought. _She_ _is_ _pretty_ _skilled_ _if_ _she_ _can_ _ride_ _a_ _wolf_.

When we reached the ridge of a mountain I finally saw where we were. Not that I recognized the white, mountainous landscape spreading out for miles before me but, from the wolf's perspective, it was somehow familiar.

The pale figure gracefully slid down the Alpha's side and, watching her pack sprint toward the large herd of some animal too far away to recognize, pulled a hunting knife out of her boot and started for a small copse of trees. My wolf self followed silently as she observed the area, then lunged, fast as lightning. I walked over as she stood and looked over at me, a dead snow rabbit still bleeding in one hand and her bloody knife in the other.

She smiled at me, walked over and said, "Hey, Tundra! Care to give me a lift?"

I growled my answer which was 'yes' I hoped. The girl knelt, cleaned her blade on the snow, and slipped the knife into her boot. _That_ _cannot_ _be_ _safe,_ I thought as she stood and swung deftly onto my back and I promptly woke up to a knock on the cabin door.

Quickly dressing in clean clothes, I answered the door to one sandy-blond haired boy wearing blue jeans and an orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt. Luka Solace, Will's younger full-brother, and my brother in all but blood. He's actually my nephew on the godly side of the family, but anytime I think about family relations on the godly side, I end up with a headache. Let's not even mention how creeped out I was by the weird family I realized I had such as Kronos being my grandfather. Yikes.

"Hey, Luka. Do you want to come into my vampire house?" I smirked, casually leaning on the doorframe.

"Sure, Niki!" he replied, purposefully baiting me. I turned, walking back inside and letting the blond pre-teen into the cabin.

"No," I stated not facing him.

"Bu—I haven't even said anything!" Luka protested.

"You want to give me a health check-up after my multi-state shadow travel trip. And I said no."

"Has anybody ever told you how impossible you are?"

"You and Will have."

"That was rhetorical."  
"I still answered." I smirked again and he stepped closer, hands in his pockets.

"You are so impossible sometimes. Luckily, I have some smart friends over at the Athena Cabin to help me with any Nico sized problems."

That said, the son of Apollo grabbed my shoulder before I could react, pinned me against the black wall and shoved a small square of Ambrosia into my mouth so hard I almost choked it up.

"Luka!" I whined as he let go. "You could have just asked! Ugh, I gotta go find Chiron." And like any son of Hades would do, not that there were any others at the moment, I shadow traveled to the porch of the Big House.

On the porch Mr. D was playing pinochle with Chiron and drinking from a can of Diet Coke as usual. They noticed my arrival and the curly haired god of wine opened his mouth to say something but I beat him to it.

"Hello Mr. D, hello Chiron. Sorry for interrupting your game, but I need to speak to Chiron." I turned to the centaur whose legs were condensed into his magic wheelchair. "Could I take a few Pegasi to be a mode of transportation for the other questers and me?" I asked, twisting the skull ring on my finger. My nervous habit; I twist the engraved magic ring when I'm either nervous or just thinking too hard.

"Sure Nico, we have several more Pegasi than usual migrating west to Camp Jupiter this year, they won't mind a few passengers. On another note, thank you for bringing Juniper back to Camp. Take care of the pegasi, and make sure to take care of yourself, too," he admonished with a knowing look.

"Thanks, Chiron. I'll leave as soon as possible to catch up with Cami and the others," I informed him. "Bye Mr. D," I called back over my shoulder as I ran to the stables.

I reached the spacious wooden building and walked inside. There was one camper there; a thin, dark-skinned girl with chocolate brown eyes. I'd seen her around camp before so I knew her name was Olivia and she was a daughter of Nike, but that was all I knew. She was brushing down a bay pegasus mare when I walked past her.

"Hey, you're Nico. . . right?" she asked in a light country accent. I turned and responded,

"Yeah, that's me. Do you know where the tack room is?"

"Keep going and you'll see a door on your right with a sign saying 'tack room'. You can't miss it."

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

I continued down the middle of the barn, scanning the doors on the right for the sign she spoke of and almost passed it. She had forgotten to mention that the sign was written in English. I found the saddle for my favorite pegasus and walk out to the stall he was in. He stuck his black head over the bottom half of the door and nickered.

"Hey Devil." I smiled as I unlocked the door and went in.

His full name was Black Devil, named that for his tremendous speed and surprising agility, but it's easier just to call him Devil. It didn't matter that I left the door wide open, Devil stayed put and let me saddle him. I didn't use reins, they were unnecessary and Devil didn't like them either. So after I saddled my sleek friend, I started saddling the other questers' favorite pegasi; they got reins though.

When I finally got finished saddling them and brought them out to the clearing where we would take off, it was already mid-afternoon. There were clouds in the sky, promising a heavy storm. I mounted Devil anyway; the quest wasn't stopping to wait for me; I couldn't stop and wait for the storm.

"Nico! Hey Nico, wait!" Luka called, breathless. "Take this. You'll need it." The blonde glanced at the sky as he shoved a draw-string bag into my hand. I tied it to the hook on the back of my saddle and took off with the other pegasi following behind.

I had forgotten how much I loved the feel of the wind in my face and rushing through my hair, breathing the cool crisp air up so high can clear my mind like nothing else. Devil whinnied, clearly he was enjoying the flight just as much as I was. I looked back at the beautiful wings rhythmically rising and falling behind us. Wow. I've always flown solo with Devil, I never knew what I was missing.

We flew at a steady pace for several hours, resting when the need arose. As we traveled the temperature slowly dropped, snow would drift lightly past us. The snow thickened as we created the ridge of the first mountains. The snow is falling heavily and the wind is picking up. It was true, the mountains were acting as wind tunnels and funneling high speed winds. If the pegasi don't reach the questers in time, Ouranos will destroy the Earth. I might have to trek on foot, my body wouldn't be able to handle it if the temperature drops much more. The pegasi might have to go on without me, Devil is faster without a rider to weigh him down. If anything happens, he will be able to reach the questers. I voiced my thoughts to Black Devil, I think I ended up yelling it to him but I couldn't tell over the howling wind.

The winds were batting us around now. I looked back, the snow was so thick I could barely see the other pegasi. They aren't being tossed around because they don't have riders. The thought came to me suddenly. It was true, none of the other pegasi seemed to be having much trouble. I turned back to face forward again but Devil had other ideas. To be a bit more concise, while I had been facing backwards, Devil had seen a shadow looming out of the snow drifts ahead of us. As I faced forward, he had beat his large wings harder to gain height. I was not ready for it and became off balanced. I fell out of the saddle with the next beat of Devil's powerful wings.

As I was free falling down to the valley floor I realized what the shadow really was. A mountain. And I was about to collide with the side of it. There weren't enough shadows to make a jump but I gathered the shadows I could feel under me to cushion my landing. It still wasn't a good landing.

Pain exploded through my body as I landed. It was safe to say that without the shadows and the fresh layer of snow, I would have died. As it was, the wind was knocked out of my lungs and I was too stunned and in too much pain to move. I laid there looking up as something behind the curtain of snow moved. A large furry head came slowly into view. As it got closer I could see that it was a wolf. _I'm_ _so_ _dead_ _now,_ I thought. Then I saw something over the grey wolf's head. Something, or rather, someone I vaguely recognized.

An extremely pale girl with long black hair pulled back in a braid.

I wanted to keep my eyes open but it was getting harder and harder. The wolf rider swung down to the ground and knelt beside me.

The last thing I saw before I blacked out was her electric blue eyes staring deep into mine.


End file.
